Enjoyed out of a 22 oz brown bottle with a distinctive silkscreened label showing a map of "Cascadia". No kind of dating that I can find, but I know this is available in the Spring, so I'm guessing this bottle is close to six months old. Poured into a 16 oz nonic style tumbler.

Appearance - A healthy pour yields a big frothy cocoa powder colored head of a little more than two fingers with a pillowy top of suds. Body is a deep crude oil black that lets very little light through, but there may be highlights of dark walnut. Hard to tell if that's just reflecting light. Retention is outstanding, and leaves spotty lacing.

Smell - Lots of roasted elements going on here. Coffee, cacao, toasted wheat bread, and just a faint hit of some rich, earthy hop bitterness. A bit of grassiness as well, but very little floral or citrus. None of the hop profile that I love in a good "Black IPA", but with a six month passage of time, hop aroma is going to suffer. Even though there aren't the distinctive hop profiles, I do get the sense that the hops lend some aromatic qualities to the roasty components, giving them a bit more life.

Taste - Much like the smell, the taste here is more porter-like than IPA-like. There is still an earthy bitterness to accompany burnt caramel, espresso and coffee bean flavor profiles, so the flavor is actually quite balanced.

Overall, a delicious beer, but one that I can't help but wonder if it would be better with a stronger floral hop profile. It's funny, my brain would probably fooled into rating this higher if the label said "porter" instead of "black IPA". Either way, it's solid and is good enough to make me curious to try to locate a fresher bottle.

S: Dark roasted malt features a slight peated twist, but is also leaned on by disruptive carbon dioxide. Weak floral hops come across as noncommittal and evasive.

T: Begins barely off-dry with soft roasted grain and mild hops aromatics that cultivate a derived fruity quality. Acidity is mild into the middle where some savory wood smoke develops. The finish pairs mild bitterness with leftover qualities that make a quick retreat.

M: Thin to medium viscosity, slightly acidic and wet on the palate, with moderate carbonation.

D/O: Like many of the beers by Hopworks, this one probably performs best when it is simply consumed rather than analyzed or compared to its peers. It is capably brewed but not really noteworthy, without much ability to stand out in a crowd.

Big thumbs up for the name / bottle design on this bomber. I've tried "The Audacity of Hops" and "Hop Obama" but here's a beer with a less mainstream political statement: Cascadian independence. The label clearly defines Cascadia as all of Oregon, Washington, and BC. No Northern California allowed -- nor Western Idaho. It also defines 6.5% ABV, 15° P, and 70 IBU.

Beer pours a dark brown color with a tiny head. Aroma is of spicy hops, slightly piney, but not particularly citrusy. Flavor is super mellow with a substantial load of roasted barley, giving this CDA a malt profile worthy of interest on its own, rather than just a dark backdrop for a black Northwest style IPA. The profile of the bitterness doesn't strike me as particularly dominant or otherwise an IPA, but there's enough there to bring great balance along with a piney hop profile, suggesting perhaps Amarillo more than C-hops. The malt side there are nutty flavors, toast, and chocolate. But the mouthfeel is all brown ale, not stout or porter.